VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism
Christopher M. VanDemark
Abstract: In this article, Christopher VanDemark explores the intersections between
nationalism, fashion, and the royal figure in Hungary between 1857 and the Compromise
of 1867. Focusing on aesthetics as a vehicle for feminine power at a critical junction in
Hungarian history, VanDemark contextualizes Empress Elisabeth’s role in engendering a
revised political schema in the Habsburg sphere. Foreseeing the power of emblematic
politics, the young Empress adeptly situated herself between the Hungarians and the
Austrians to recast the Hungarian martyrology narrative promulgated after the failed
revolution of 1848. Eminent Hungarian newspapers such as the Pesti Napló, Pester Lloyd,
and the Vasárnapi Újság form the backbone of this article, as publications such as these
facilitated the dissemination of patriotic sentiment while simultaneously exulting the
efficacy of symbolic fashions. The topic of study engages with contemporary works on
nationalism, which emphasize gender and aesthetics, and contributes to the emerging body
of scholarship on important women in Hungarian history. Seminal texts by Catherine
Brice, Sara Maza, Abby Zanger, and Lynn Hunt compliment the wider objective of this
brief analysis, namely, the notion that the Queen’s body can both enhance and reform
monarchical power within a nineteenth-century milieu.
Keywords: Empress Elisabeth, Habsburg Monarchy, fashion and politics, fashion and
nationalism, 1867 Compromise
Biography: Christopher VanDemark received his B.A in History and Political Science from the University of
Florida, Gainesville. His undergraduate thesis, written on revolutionary bodies in mid-nineteenth-century Hungary,
was awarded the Andrew Family Thesis Award for best undergraduate thesis in 2015. In fall 2016, he will attend
New York University to pursue a PhD in Modern European History. His scholarly interests include the politics of
revolutionary bodies and the history of fashion in East/Central Europe.
Since the advent of the Hungarian Reform Era, sartorially minded Hungarian patriots
envisaged the day when the national costume would finally make its debut on the international
stage. Indeed, the relative anonymity of Hungary within the broader European sphere had
frustrated Magyar statesmen for many years. As Ferenc Deák astutely articulated, “let not vanity
deceive us; it is the fact that Europe is scarcely aware of our existence, and that many an African
settlement is better known than our country, which foreigners regard as a productive but
uncivilized colony of Austria” (quoted in Brabourne 1908). Yet it is ironic that, ultimately, it was
an Austrian Empress who would become the catalyst for the recognition of the Hungarian
costume by the West. Elisabeth of Austria’s Hungarian coronation gown (Figure 1), designed by
famed Parisian couturier Charles Frederick Worth, employed sartorial motifs reminiscent of the
New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its
D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
ISSN 1936-8879 (online)
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
Hungarian costume with “thin edging of lace on the short sleeves and pearl-strings like braids of
Hungarian Hussar uniforms” crisscrossing the bodice (Fischer and McEwan 1992: 64). Merging
the popular French styles of the day with subtle Hungarian designs, the dress was a regal
confection of lace, fine fabrics, and jewels. The intricate velvet bodice was complemented by
satin puffed sleeves secured with oversized bows, and the skirt and train were composed of
duchesse satin, a heavy, durable, and easily draped textile used by Worth in many of his evening
gowns. The entire ensemble was complimented by a magnificent lace apron, a design motif
characteristic of the traditional Hungarian costume (Cone 1980: 140). It is said that when the
Emperor saw his wife in the costume, he was so taken aback by her “transcendental” beauty that
he spontaneously embraced her in the presence of her ladies-in-waiting (Cone 1980: 144). The
garment, laden with political and cultural symbolism, explicated the Empress’s role in
championing Hungarian liberation within the Empire. Indeed, her dedication to Magyar culture
and her unwavering support of Hungarian self-determination rendered the Empress a vital ally in
the fight for political autonomy.
In this article I will analyze political fashionism in Hungary, a term developed and
promulgated by Alexander Maxwell, within the context of Empress Elisabeth’s ascension and
reign, focusing on her first Hungarian tour in 1857 and her coronation in 1867. While Maxwell’s
interpretation is oriented toward fashion industries, I use the term to describe the ideology of
patriots who use traditional fashions to galvanize nationalist protest. This somewhat revised
definition emphasizes the cultural-political character of this piece. After the Compromise, the
national costume was still worn in Hungary; however, it began to lose its political edge as the
Austrian Empire became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and as the civic objectives of the
Hungarian moderates were achieved.
Although the scholarship surrounding Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi by her friends and
admirers, is vast, cornerstone political histories on Habsburg Europe, including those by A.J.P
Taylor and others, have glossed over her influence altogether, and biographical and cultural
histories, until recently, have tended to focus on her marriage and physique, subordinating her
political and intellectual legacy to her rigid beauty routine and her obsession with retaining a
slender figure. While these texts hold an important place in the broader historiography of the illfated Empress, they are often driven by an acute sentimentalism, as exemplified by the aptly
titled Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria. In contrast, this study seeks to
both contribute to and amend contemporary histories written on the political contours of the
royal form by analyzing largely neglected Hungarian language source materials. By bringing
Elisabeth’s political and aesthetic influence to the fore, the Hungarian sources reveal the
Empress’ determination to consolidate Habsburg power to achieve concrete political objectives.
A disciple of Heinrich Heine, whose lyrical verses inspired her own poetry, the Habsburg
Empress developed and refined her political sentiments by studying the great liberal thinkers of
the nineteenth-century. Indeed, she did have a compulsive, quirky personality, but to fixate
exclusively on her stately grace, haute couture garments, and coiffure only mitigate the impact
she had within the political sphere.
Contemporary literature on queenship and political power was instrumental in framing
this analysis. While Sarah Maza, Lynn Hunt, and Juliane Vogel interpret the Queen’s physique
as indicative of monarchical deterioration, the scope of primary materials on Elisabeth reveal a
different story. Maza and Hunt, in their analysis of Marie Antoinette’s body, consider the
Queen’s earthly frame as threatening to the maintenance of the body politic. Both conclude that
2
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
the bodily dimensions of the queen usurped the sanctity of the monarch and stymied the divine
authority so essential to the preservation of absolutism. In the years preceding the Revolution of
1789, the inner workings of the French Court were completely shielded from the eyes of the
masses, and this opaqueness bolstered the perception that the feminine body, with its proximity
to the King, was a detrimental, and in some cases, profane force that was largely responsible for
the ruin of the ancien régime. In contrast, I endeavor to examine the means through which the
fashioned body of the queen can buttress monarchism within a nineteenth-century milieu, where
clothing, with its subtle power to evoke and suggest, was a useful tool wielded by socially
empowered women against the backdrop of a European continent consumed by Victorian
sensibilities. Indeed, an obsession with symbolic self-representation gripped the bourgeoisdominated nineteenth century, which facilitated the propagation of oblique forms of political
power emanating from unlikely points of origin. In the spirit of Abby Zanger’s work on the
marriage of Louis XIV, in which fashion and the figure of the queen “became the limb that
carried the display of Bourbon power,” I will explicate the positive role the feminine form can
play in the consolidation of royal power (Zanger 1997: 38).
Elisabeth, whose political beliefs complemented the liberal landscape of late-nineteenthcentury Europe, was not alone in exploiting her unique position to further her own political
agenda. In Italy, for instance, Queen Margherita of Savoy also manipulated her public image to
fortify her husband’s regime. The queen was notorious for rejecting the chic couture radiating
from the French capital, instead opting for nationally inspired garments designed and produced at
home (Brice 2006: 209). A supporter of civic nationalism, members of the Italian political elite
considered Margherita particularly adept at propagating a message that served to unify the
previously divided Italian nation (Brice 2006: 198). Exploiting the extensive reach of the press,
Margherita deliberately shaped her image to reinforce public perceptions of the fledgling Italian
monarchy. In Austria, Elisabeth’s task in creating a public image for herself was more delicate,
as the young queen was forced to contend with the multiethnic and increasingly nationalist
character of the Habsburg realms. However, by endorsing the campaign spearheaded by the
moderate wing of the Hungarian resistance movement, Elisabeth managed to help ensure the
continuity of the piecemeal Empire in the wake of revolution and territorial decline. If Elisabeth
and Margherita represented the apex of substantive political self-representation in Austria and
Italy, the French empress, Eugénie, whose husband ruled France until his overthrow in 1870,
epitomized the dangers inherent in symbolic self-fashioning. Haunted by her husband’s dubious
claim to the throne, which he had achieved via a coup d'etat in 1852, Eugénie sought to solidify
her fragile position through fashion. Yet, her cult-like obsession with her predecessor, Marie
Antoinette, and a preoccupation with labyrinthine etiquette was insufficient in authenticating her
husband’s precarious claim to the French throne. Consumed by her fascination with voluminous
crinolines and tightly laced bodices, Eugénie’s body was dehumanized, becoming a mannequin
upon which French fashions were marketed. As Juliane Vogel asserts, the sartorial exaggeration
characteristic of Napoleon III’s court debased the body politic and diminished the imperial
sanctity imperative to the proper functioning of the monarchical system (Vogel 2006: 218). As
the Bonaparte case demonstrates, the effectiveness of vestimentary symbolism in bolstering
monarchy during the latter portion of the nineteenth-century was contingent upon the political
and cultural context of the territory in question.
Politically, Empress Elisabeth was specially equipped to serve as a conduit for the
Hungarian moderates’ agenda of reconciliation and compromise primarily because she held
3
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
significant sway over her husband, Franz Joseph. In his retrospective column, Max Falk, the
editor of Hungary’s leading German language periodical, Pester Lloyd, and famed Sisiconfidant, reflected on the Empress’ political scheme, which stressed Austro-Hungarian
rapprochement in lieu of increased hostility:
With her keen eye she soon recognized an element of strength for the Habsburg
dynasty, an inexhaustible treasure-trove, which neither through brute force, nor
through poison, but solely through sincere, heartfelt benevolence could be
elevated (Falk 1893).1
[Mit ihrem scharfen Auge erkannte sie bald, dass hier ein Element der Stärke für
die habsburgische Dynastie, ein unerschöpflicher Schatz moralischer Kraft liege,
welcher aber weder durch brutale Gewalt, noch durch Gift, sondern einzig und
allein durch aufrichtiges, herzliches Wohlwollen gehoben werden könne.]
According to Falk, the Empress anticipated and acknowledged the strategic significance of the
Hungarian Crownlands, electing to position herself between the Emperor and the Magyar
moderates to safeguard the continuity of dynastic hegemony through compromise. Together with
Gyula Andrássy, the renowned Hungarian politician who would later become the Foreign
Minister of Austria-Hungary, Elisabeth lobbied the Emperor in favor of national unification. In a
letter penned to Franz Joseph on July 16, 1866, Elisabeth solicited the Emperor to meet with
Andrássy:
I…gained the conviction that, if you trust him, but entirely, we, and not Hungary
alone, but the monarchy, can still be saved. But you must at least speak with him
yourself, and I mean at once for each day can shape events in such a way that in
the end he would no longer assume it…For the last time I beg you in the name of
Rudolf, do not let the last opportunity slip by (quoted in Hamann 1986).
Unlike the Hungarian radicals, who desired complete separation from Austria, Andrássy and his
more moderate supporters advocated for Hungarian independence within the Habsburg Empire.
They hoped to alleviate the national trauma associated with 1848 through political compromise
between the two most populous ethnic groups in the monarchy. The catastrophes of 1859 and
1866, in which the Habsburgs were expelled from the Italian and German spheres, catalyzed the
recognition, and eventual acceptance, of Austro-Hungarian reconciliation by the Emperor and his
advisers in Vienna. However, the Czechs, who had been largely faithful to the monarchy, were
notably excluded from the Ausgleich [‘Compromise’]. Although the Emperor and his ministers
were undoubtedly conscious of the Bohemians’ grievances, they were largely ignored until
Dualism collapsed in the aftermath of the First World War. Indeed, political inclusion
1
Unless otherwise noted, the translated quotations used throughout this text are my own.
4
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
engendered feelings of exclusion by many within the Empire. It was within this volatile
atmosphere that Elisabeth became the face of the monarchy in Hungary.
Throughout the course of her reign, the Empress displayed her loyalty to the Hungarians
both publicly and privately. As a monarch of the newspaper epoch, word of Elisabeth’s beauty,
grace, and intellect spread quickly across the Empire, reinforcing her celebrity persona. Her love
of equestrianism made her popular with the plutocratic Hungarian upper class, as she spent much
of her time at Gödöllő Palace, her country estate just outside of Pest. Moreover, she chose to
surround herself with Hungarian ladies-in-waiting, who conversed with her in Hungarian, and
employed a Magyar chamberlain as well (Cone 1980: 143). Indeed, as imperial sanctity was
gradually delegitimized after 1789, the multitudes were increasingly privy to the private affairs
of their sovereign. Under absolutism, this sort of identification had been both inconceivable and
undesirable, but in the context of post-1848 Hungary, monarchical de-consecration proved
beneficial to the Habsburg regime, which was perhaps best exemplified by the death of
Elisabeth’s infant daughter in Buda-Pest during the imperial tour of 1857 (Brice 2006: 206). The
image of the child succumbing to illness in the arms of her bereaved mother touched the hearts
of the Hungarian public, as the young couple’s mourning became a public drama the masses
followed with great fervor. Indeed, within such a charged atmosphere, the oft-forgotten efficacy
of imperial aesthetics became a safe space upon which the fears and anxieties surrounding
Austria’s decline were projected.
For the remainder of this article, I will chart the ascension of Empress Elisabeth through
the lens of sartorial symbolism, beginning with her tour of Hungary in 1857 and culminating in
the royal couples’ Hungarian coronation a decade later. The 1857 Imperial Tour was a labor of
reconciliation between the politically subdued Magyars and the Habsburg imperial family.
Undertaken to enhance the tarnished image of the monarchy, the tour was a stage upon which the
then still largely unknown Empress flaunted her politically saturated garments to an unsuspecting
Hungarian public. Indeed, the Empress became the shop window for the Habsburg monarchy,
exhibiting the charisma and approachability necessary to resuscitate the Emperor’s image in
Hungary.
In May 1857, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth arrived in Buda-Pest to a flood of reds and
whites as a large crowd received the young couple. While the emperor wore his stiff Austrian
military regalia, his wife stunned the crowd in a “brilliant diadem and dress adorned in
Hungarian red, white, and green colors” (Freifeld 2007: 143). The sight of the Austrian consort
decked in the national tricolors excited the throng assembled to pay their respects to the Austrian
royals. Later that evening, the couple attended an opera, at which the Emperor wore a Hungarian
Hussar uniform, while Elisabeth wore a modest gown reminiscent of those worn by patriotic
ladies in the 1840s (Maxwell 2014: 202), a period in which, according to the Pest Fashion Paper
[A Pesti Divatlap], upper class Hungarian women sported “simple, homemade” [egyszerűbb honi
kelmét] garments manufactured and developed in Hungary (Vahot 1845). The enthusiasm
generated by the royal tour was predicated on the couples’ adherence to aesthetic nationalism,
which began to repair the damaged relationship between the Empire and the Hungarian people.
Furthermore, Empress Elisabeth was integral in humanizing the previously infallible Habsburg
monarchy, laying the groundwork for political compromise between the diminishing Austrians
and the martyred Hungarians.
The sartorial importance of the 1857 Hungarian tour undertaken by the new Emperor and
Empress cannot be understated. Consistently dressed in nationalist garb, the Empress both
5
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
reflected and foresaw the significance of aesthetic patriotism to the Hungarian populace
(Maxwell 2014: 202). Wielding her power as both an empress and a woman, Elisabeth melded
modish couture and traditional Hungarian garments to effectuate political change and to bridge
the divide between the Hungarians and their rulers in Vienna. Like Julia Szendrey and the Zichy
sisters before her, Empress Elisabeth’s political sentiments were etched into the folds of her
intricate ensembles. However, as the consort of the Habsburg Emperor, Elisabeth possessed a
greater degree of influence than the ladies of the Hungarian Revolution. Politically, the Empress’
role was two-fold: first, she was instrumental in diffusing the martyrology narrative developed
after 1848, and, second, she aided in the development of dualism (Freifeld 2007: 142). By
mimicking the nationalist techniques employed by Hungarian women for decades, Elisabeth
altered the central purpose of political fashionism from one of protest to one of national pride. In
the political sphere, the Empress was able to exert her limited power as consort to impart a new
political order, one in which the balance of power was equally apportioned between Buda-Pest
and Vienna. From 1857 to 1867, Elisabeth immersed herself in Hungarian politics, consistently
petitioning her husband to afford the Magyars a greater degree of civic incorporation within the
Empire.
Prior to 1857, the upper echelons of Hungarian high society had been largely
unacquainted with the Emperor’s new consort. In the wake of the imperial tour, however,
Empress Elisabeth’s charisma and aesthetic adroitness captured the imaginations of the
Hungarian populace. Her popularity was such that peasant families decorated their homes with
images of the Empress and soldiers hung pictures of her above their beds (Freifeld 2007: 139).
When Elisabeth visited Hungary, crowds would gather to catch a glimpse of her walking into a
shop, or more sensationally, riding her horse in the city park. Predictably, Pester Lloyd described
the Empress’ equestrian garb as “simple” [einfache] and “refined” [kultivierte] (1867). Between
1857 and 1867, Elisabeth’s appeal as a celebrity monarch reached a head. Trendy women
clamored to have their hair done like Sisi’s or to replicate her patriotic ensembles. Indeed, as
monarchy was privatized and increasingly accessible to the masses, women across Europe
sought to emulate their sovereigns. In Italy, the aptly named periodical, Margherita, “described
the queen’s costumes down to the minute detail, so that readers of more modest means could
emulate them in somewhat less extravagant versions” (Brice 2006: 205-206). Like Margherita,
Elisabeth used her popularity to further her own political program in her sphere of influence.
Consequently, during this period, Hungarian national fashionism was reinvigorated by
Elisabeth’s celebrity persona and her dedication to liberal principles.
The years immediately preceding the unification were politically and territorially
disastrous for the Austrians, and in early February 1866, at the advent of the Austro-Prussian
War, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth visited Buda-Pest to rally support for the national cause. The
Vasárnapi Újság detailed the royal visit, praising the Empress’ “angelic goodness and grace”
[angyali jóság es báj]. On February 1, Elisabeth recited a moving speech in front of the
Hungarian Parliament, in which she asked “… the Almighty to bless the representatives of the
Nation” [… áldást kivánt a Mindenhatótól a nemzet képviselőinek] (1866). Spectators observed
that, while she held a document in her hand, she addressed the crowd in flawless Hungarian
without peering down at the paper once (1866). With many in the audience weeping for joy,
Elisabeth then prayed for Hungary’s continued prosperity. The Pesti Napló praised the address,
claiming the young empress was gifted with marked intelligence, tempered by her beauty and
charm (1866). For the occasion, Elisabeth was dressed in a Bavarian folk gown decorated with
6
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
pastoral motifs, concentrated in the bodice. While the costume was not explicitly Hungarian, the
Empress was tapping into the nationalist sentiments of the Magyar people by symbolically
sanctioning the peasantry. The parliamentary address was not only sartorially significant, but
also politically groundbreaking, given that in the nineteenth-century, it was rare for a woman,
with the exception of Queen Victoria, to speak in an official capacity. The praise that the 1866
speech garnered in Hungary underscored the Empress’s vital role within the monarchy, a role
that surpassed a mastery of symbolic expression. Later that evening, a ball was given to celebrate
the royal couples’ visit, at which Elisabeth privately expressed doubts concerning her
understanding of politics, to which novelist Mór Jókai replied, “the highest politics is to win a
country’s heart, and you certainly understand that” (quoted in Freifeld: 2007). Indeed, this
touching visit by the imperial couple left an indelible mark on the Hungarian psyche, filling the
hearts and minds of the Magyar people with hope for a brighter future. “The ice is breaking. We
are full of hope,” wrote Nándor Zichy in 1866 (quoted in Freifeld 2007: 148).
As consort to the Emperor, a position in which she had absolutely no power to enact
legislation or pass decrees, Elisabeth managed to mollify the political and cultural turbulence that
had long hung over the Hungarian territories, inspiring a new sense of nationalism in a subdued
people. Inspired by Elisabeth’s proficiency with the mother tongue, aristocratic Hungarian
women, consistently under pressure to speak German, were emboldened to speak Hungarian in
all facets of public and private life. Without fail, the Empress was brutal in her insistence that she
be addressed in Hungarian when she was in Hungary. For instance, while visiting a convent
school, the Mother Superior, who was Italian and could not understand Hungarian, dared to
address Elisabeth in her mother tongue. In response, the Empress, in her frostiest voice,
demanded that next time she visited she be spoken to in Hungarian. Ironically, when she
returned, the Mother Superior had come down with a sudden illness and was unable to meet with
her. Shortly thereafter, the abbess resigned from her post (Haslip 1965: 188-189). Perhaps
unknowingly, the Empress had begun to dredge up feelings that the legacy of 1848 had been
squandered as elite Hungarians once again felt empowered to speak their native tongue on the
streets and not exclusively in their homes. Through her patriotic displays and her unwavering
dedication to Hungary’s political elevation within the monarchy, the Empress’ role was double
pronged: she was the voguish member of the nobility, attending the Protection Association Ball
dressed in garments infused with folk motifs, and she was the Hungarian woman who spoke
Magyar to her children to ensure the continued endurance of the language. Her gender, combined
with her indirect political influence as an imperial consort, was influential in achieving the great
political concessions of 1867, in which Hungary was recognized as an equal partner in the
administration of the Habsburg Empire.
Following crippling losses in the Austro-Prussian War, a beleaguered Franz Joseph,
determined to safeguard Austrian preeminence on the European stage, recognized the necessity
of Hungarian appeasement. Inspired by the schema outlined by the Andrássy and his allies, the
Austrian Empire would be restyled and reorganized into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dual
monarchy in which Hungary would enjoy a sizeable degree of independence. On June 8, 1867,
Austro-Hungarian unification, or kiegyezés in Hungarian, was consummated, as the Emperor and
Empress of Austria were officially styled the Apostolic King and Queen of Hungary. The
coronation ceremony was a spectacle of monarchical pomp as the young couple paraded through
Buda-Pest’s grand boulevards to the Mátyás Cathedral, situated in the Buda portion of the
capital. As Elisabeth entered the church with her husband by her side, dressed in a coronation
7
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
gown befitting a triumphant monarch, she was greeted by throngs of cheering Hungarians. The
gown was a physical manifestation of her pivotal role in post-1848 Hungarian politics: aproned
and bound at the sleeves with oversized bows and ornamented with strung peals, the dress
symbolically displayed the part she had played from her 1857 tour to her Hungarian ascension a
decade later. The June 16, 1867 edition of the Vasárnapi Újság ecstatically chronicled her every
move, describing the newly crowned Queen as “virtuous” [erényes] and “sublime” [magasztos].
The newspaper also reasserted the Empress’ continued dedication to Hungarian culture:
… [Elisabeth] is keen to surround herself with Hungarian ladies, and she speaks
with them conversationally in the mother tongue. Among the newly appointed
ladies-in-waiting is the equally charming and enthusiastic Countess Gyula
Andrássy and the respectable Baroness Eötvös. Both ladies are proud to be in the
Empress’ good graces (1867).
[… magyar hölgyekkel szivesen veszi körül magát, s velök rendesen magyarul
társalog. Ujabban kinevezett udvarhölgyei, köztök a szintoly bájos mint lelkes
Andrássy Gyula grófné, a köztiszteletben álló Eötvös báróné stb., azok közé
tartoznak, kik a fejedelmi asszonynak magas kegyével dicsekedhetnek.]
The compromise and coronation of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth achieved a marked shift in
Hungarian political loyalties, after which they were affectionately referred to as “King” and
“Queen” in everyday discourse (Freifeld 2007: 151). At this point, with the Hungarian political
climate significantly cooled, politicized fashionism was rendered unnecessary. While some men,
women, and children still wore traditional garments to celebrate special occasions, the clothing
began to carry a new meaning as the Hungarians secured political and economic control over the
eastern portion of the newly-formed Dual Monarchy.
Empress Elisabeth was, by no means, the first female monarch to use some form of
aesthetic symbolism to achieve a concrete political end. Elizabeth I of England had adeptly
employed her royal form to fashion her role as queen through portraiture, and Maria Theresa had
donned symbolic fashions to stitch together her far-flung kingdom. Catherine de’ Medici, as
regent to her teenage son, commissioned structures that underscored her natural right to rule,
including a pleasure dairy laden with symbolically significant architectural motifs and artwork
(Martin 2011: 41). With the ascension of the urban bourgeoisie and the destabilization of
absolutism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sartorial self-fashioning also evolved as
the nation state began to supplant the empire. Thus, it is no coincidence that the rise of the
celebrity monarch coincided with the rapid commercialization of European society post-1789.
Within the context of this shifting social landscape, Elisabeth and her nineteenth-century
contemporaries were compelled to voice their political sentiments emblematically to ensure the
continuity of their respective dynasties. Indeed, the political anxiety surrounding the 1848
revolutions and the subsequent constitutional crises that succeeded them in the Austrian Empire
facilitated Elisabeth’s political ascension. Elisabeth anticipated the power of symbolism in
politics and donned nationalist garb to fuse her royal image with her political beliefs. Her lavish
garments simultaneously embraced Hungarian folk dress while espousing Western high fashion
and its sartorial experimentalism. For instance, the ensemble she wore for the coronation was
groundbreaking in that Worth coopted a Hungarian militant motif and transformed it into an
8
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
aristocratic means of nationalist expression. Thus, I have endeavored to build upon the work of
Zanger, whose seminal work underscored the significance of the body natural in the construction
of monarchism. Elisabeth’s physical form, with its propinquity to the Austrian sovereign,
bolstered the power of the Habsburg monarchy at a time of rapid political transition. Through
fashion, Elisabeth transformed her body into an immortal apparatus, an instrument through
which the Habsburg regime ensured its continued preeminence as the monarchical system was
increasingly secularized and decentralized.
Figure 1
Emil Rabending. Elisabeth in her Hungarian Coronation Gown (1867).
Photograph. Source: Schloß Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria.
9
VanDemark, Christopher. “Empress Elisabeth (‘Sisi’) of Austria and Patriotic Fashionism.” Hungarian Cultural
Studies. e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Volume 9 (2016): http://ahea.pitt.edu DOI:
10.5195/ahea.2016.254
Works Cited
1866. A Pesti Napló [The Pest Journal].
1866-1867. A Vasárnapi Újság [The Sunday Newspaper].
1867. Pester Lloyd.
Brice, Catherine. 2006. “Queen Margherita: The Only Man in the House of Savoy.”
In The Body of the Queen: Gender and Rule in the Courtly World, 1500-2000. Ed. Regina
Schulte. New York: Berghahn Books: 195-215.
Cone, Polly and Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1980. The Imperial Style: Fashions of the
Habsburg Era: Based on the Exhibition, Fashions of the Habsburg Era, AustriaHungary, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 1979-August 1980.
New York: The Museum.
Entwistle, Joanne. 2000. The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress, and Modern Social Theory.
Malden: Polity Press.
Falk, Max. 1893. “Vom königlichen Paare” [‘On the Royal Couple’]. Pester Lloyd.
Fischer, Wolfgang and Dorothea McEwan. 1992. Gustav Klimt & Emilie Flöge: An Artist and
His Muse. London: Lund Humphries.
Freifeld, Alice. 2007. “Empress Elisabeth as Hungarian Queen: The Uses of Celebrity
Monarchism.” In The Limits of Loyalty: Imperial Symbolism, Popular Allegiances, and
State Patriotism in the Late Habsburg Monarchy. Ed. Daniel L. Unowsky and
Laurence Cole. New York: Berghahn Books: 138-161.
Hamann, Brigitte. 1986. The Reluctant Empress. London: Faber and Faber.
Haslip, Joan. 1965. The Lonely Empress: A Biography of Elizabeth of Austria.
Cleveland: World Pub. Co.
Knatchbull-Hugessen Brabourne, Cecil Marcus. 1908. The Political Evolution of the Hungarian
Nation. England: United Kingdom.
Martin, Meredith. 2011. Dairy Queens: The Politics of Pastoral Architecture from Catherine de'
Medici to Marie Antoinette. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Maxwell, Alexander. 2014. Patriots against Fashion. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Perrot, Philippe. 1994. Fashioning the Bourgeoisie. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Silver, Anna Krugovoy. 2002. Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Sinclair, Andrew. 1999. Death by Fame: A Life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria.
New York: St. Martin's Press.
Taylor, Alan John Percivale. 1948. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918: A History of the
Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. London: H. Hamilton.
Vahot, Imre. 1845. “A Magyar Társasélet Jövője” [‘The Future of Hungarian Social Life’].
A Pesti Divatlap.
Vogel, Juliane. 2006. “The Double Skin: Imperial Fashion in the Nineteenth Century.”
In The Body of the Queen: Gender and Rule in the Courtly World, 1500-2000. Ed. Regina
Schulte. New York: Berghahn Books: 216-237.
Zanger, Abby E. 1997. Scenes from the Marriage of Louis XIV: Nuptial Fictions and the Making
of Absolutist Power. Stanford: Stanford UP.
10